Monday, 3 October 2011

High Court upholds I&B Ministry's notice on TV reality show

The Delhi High Court on September 30 upheld the show cause notice issued by the information and broadcasting ministry to Star Plus channel for the telecast of two episodes of the controversial TV reality show 'Sach Ka Saamna' in 2009.

The court gave its order dismissing Star India Private Ltd (SIPL) plea against the I&B Ministry’s July 2009 notice and the November 2009 warning to adhere to the programme code.

Justice Murlidhar's order upheld the Centre's July 22 notice seeking an explanation from the TV channel for showing the episodes and its subsequent warning in November 2009 against showing similar shows in future.

The court was hearing a writ petition filed by the channel against the ministry's Nov 27, 2009, show cause notice, which stated that the telecast/re-telecast by the channel of the show 'Sach Ka Saamna' July 17 and 21, 2009, was vulgar in nature.

On Feb 10, 2010, the channel approached the court seeking direction to the government not to interfere in the broadcast of the second season of its controversial TV show.